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Sunday, September 27, 2009

The Great American Beer Fest, held in Denver, Colorado, broke all the records again this year. Besides for thousands of people enjoying thousands of great beers, there is a nation-wide brewing competition. This is the country's premier brewing competition, and the gold medal winners have plenty of bragging rights.

First, some general stats:**457 breweries in the festival hall**2,100 beers served at the festival**49,000 attendees (includes brewers, volunteers and ticket holders)**3,000 volunteers**495 breweries in the competition**3,308 beers judged in the competition**78 categories judged + Pro-Am category**132 judges from ten countries (I wasn't one of them this year :( ...)**Average number of competition beers entered in each category: 42**Category with highest number of entries: 134, American Style India Pale Ale

The largest competition I have ever judged had 950 entries; a far cry from 3,308! It took from 9 until 6 to judge 950 beers with 50 judges and even then we were being pushed a bit. Good thing it takes more than 1 day to judge!

Michigan constituted 4% of all beers entered in the competition (138 entries), and 4% of all the winners (9 winners) putting our fine state in 6th place overall. Not too bad, given beer giants Colorado (45 winners), California (39), Oregon (22), Washington (13) and Pennsylvania (12) were ahead of us.

Large Brewing Company and Large Brewing Company Brewer of the YearCoors Brewing Company, Golden, CO; Dr. David Ryder

Mid-Size Brewing Company and Mid-Size Brewing Company Brewer of the YearFlying Dog Brewery, Frederick, MD; Robert Malone

Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the YearDry Dock Brewing Company, Aurora, CO; Dry Dock Brewing Team